A light-filled series of rooms that have been brilliantly reappointed in a considered palette of colours
A light-filled series of rooms that have been brilliantly reappointed in a considered palette of colours
Set on the edge of Blenheim Palace’s expansive grounds, this early 18th-century three-bedroom cottage lies in Woodstock, a delightful market town within easy reach of Oxford’s city centre. Grade II-listed, the cottage’s pale Cotswold stone façade – emblematic of the wider area’s distinctive vernacular – hints at the cosy interiors within, where sprigged wallpapers and strokes of Little Greene, Farrow and Ball and Edward Bulmerpaint have been paired with original features including winding staircases and wide plank original elm floorboards. This harmonious balance between contemporary and rustic is perhaps at its apex in the farmhouse-style kitchen: a bright, skylight-lit space that uses colour with confidence and opens, via a stable door, to the south-east-facing rear garden.
Setting the Scene
Woodstock, from the Old English for ‘clearing in the woods’, was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a royal forest. It remains thoroughly bucolic to this day, with a wealth of expansive green spaces – including those that comprise the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – in easy reach. The town’s architectural profile is largely 17th century in origin, with many houses being “Georgian-ised” in line with a spurt of 18th-century growth. Honey-hued Cotswold stone is in abundance, along with plenty of sweeping sash windows.
This house, located to the north of Woodstock, is of a piece with the town’s broader visual identity. Its pretty period charm has been retained both inside and out, though pains have been taken under current ownership to adapt the former to the needs of modern life. The result is a light-filled series of rooms that have been brilliantly reappointed in a considered palette of colours, materials and textures.
The Grand Tour
Set back from Manor Road on a bank above an evergreen ivy-covered wall, the house sits roughly in the middle of a run of quintessential stone cottages and houses. Despite their material uniformity, each is slightly unique; this house’s forest green front door is a subtle stand-out that hints at the refined use of colour within.
Entry is to the house’s living room, a wonderfully atmospheric beam-framed space with a log-burning stove atop a stone hearth. A green surround, inlaid with charming 18th-century reclaimed Delft tiles in “springer” motif, traces around the fireplace, providing a focal point as well as a mantel to line up favourite postcards or trinkets. Sisal carpet grounds the room and there is a deep seat beneath an original window.
At the rear is the kitchen and dining room, a sublime space that, care of its expansive glazing, receives plenty of daylight. A run of reclaimed Iroko-topped deep ochre bespoke joinery in Farrow and Ball ‘India Yellow’ runs along one side, with a Bosch hob and oven and a deep sink and brass taps. All kitchen joinery as well as the fireplace is George Fisher Woodwork. Butt-and-bead panelling runs behind the units, and twin Devol pendant lights are suspended above. Quarry tiles run underfoot, contrasting playfully with the cabinet colour. At the rear, a glazed stable-style door and adjacent windows provide both visual and physical connection to the house’s private garden.
Stairs wind up from the living room to the first floor, where two of the house’s three bedrooms lie. Both are serene spaces; one is finished in an ethereal blue shade, while the other is a posy pink. A second set of stairs – this time painted green to match the house’s front door and fireplace tiles – ascends to the main bedroom, which occupies the entirety of the second storey. The space is set beneath the sloping contours of the eaves and is especially well lit by windows on opposite aspects.
All of the bedrooms are served by a first-floor bathroom finished with blushing pink-painted floorboards and a delightfully ditsy wallpaper by Ottoline DeVries.
The Great Outdoors
Unfurling from the stable-style door at the rear of the kitchen, the garden is a long space that receives a lovely south-easterly light. A wall and a fence bound along opposite sides, with the verdant tendrils of a jasmine providing privacy along either edge. At the fore, steps ascend to a stone-laid area perfect for a table and chairs.
The shed lies at the foot of the garden. It would makes for a brilliant storage space, though, with the relevant permissions permitting, is ripe for reimagining, with electricity and water pipes already laid in preparation for future development.
Public access to the Blenheim estate is via a small wooden gate just a few seconds walk from the front door providing miles of pastoral rambling.
Out and About
Woodstock is a charming town perhaps best known as the home of the Unesco World Heritage Blenheim Palace, an 18th-century house (one of Britain’s largest, in fact) built in the English baroque style. Otherwise, Woodstock is a spot celebrated for its period architecture, lovely coffee shops (a branch of Oxford stalwart The Missing Bean opened in November 2024) and, in typical Oxfordshire style, ambient pubs; The Woodstock Arms and The Duke of Marlborough are particular favourites.
Woodstock also lies just beyond the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is around a 30-minute drive north of the Chilterns National Landscape. Even closer to home (and exceptionally convenient for dog walkers) is the 2,000 acres of arboreal parkland that surrounds Blenheim Palace.
Nearby Charlbury has become one of the most popular Cotswold destinations in recent years, home to Daylesford’s Bell pub while adjacent pub The Bull pub is run by the team from the famed Pelican in London’s Notting Hill. The town is also home to the Riverside Festival and renowned Wilderness Music Festival, which is held in the grounds of the stunning Cornbury Park. Chipping Norton is just beyond and has a cinema and a theatre.
Oxford is under a 30-minute drive from the house, or can be reached via a half-hour bus from Woodstock. Known for what Victorian poet Matthew Arnold termed the ‘dreaming spires’, Oxford is shaped by its romantic architecture. It is home to some brilliant museums including the Ashmolean, the Pitt Rivers and Christ Church Picture Gallery. It has a fantastic culinary scene, of which Gees, Arbequina and Pierre Victoire are particular stand-outs. Pubs are aplenty and include the cosy Turf Tavern, The Bear and The Perch, which sits on the periphery of the restorative Port Meadow.
There are plenty of schools close to the house, both in the state and independent sector; these include the well-regarded Woodstock CofE Primary School, The Marlborough Church of England School, St Edward’s School, Oxford High School GDST and Dragon School.
Travel into the capital takes under 70 minutes from Hanborough station, an eight-minute drive for 15-minute cycle from the house. A regular bus service provides public transport to Oxford and to the surrounding villages, including Charlbury, Chipping Norton and Witney. The A44 is also easily reached.
Council Tax Band: D
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